This invention relates in general to the construction of passageways between two operating vehicles and in particular to a new and useful mechanism for interconnecting portal passageway portions of a rail vehicle maintaining cooperating parting surfaces at equal spacing.
German OS No. 32 33 794 discloses a flush protective structure for thru-communication between cars connected by central buffer couplers, comprising an all-round closed portal which, on a straight track, has a contour aligned with the cars. The parting surfaces between the cars and the portal are spherical and the gap therebetween is bridged by a resilient sealing cover. The portal comprises two similar parts which are detachably connected to each other and to the horizontally pivotal central buffer couplers. While negotiating curves, the central line of the couplers ceases to be aligned with the central line of the portal, and becomes offset in parallel. That is why the portal must be mounted on the coupler for lateral displacement. Such a mechanism is expensive and raises problems of space and sealing.
German Pat. No. 27 57 201 (U.S. Pat. No. 4,252,065) discloses an intercommunication structure between railroad cars. A supporting structure therefore is formed by a bridge guide construction with a support on the car body side, connected in the manner of a universal joint. This construction supports a bridge part at the car body side and guides a lengthwise telescoping bridge support at the portal side which is connected to the associated portal part in the manner of a spherical joint. A lengthwise resilient ball-and-socket coupling rod connected to the car body guides the associated portal part along in the lengthwise and transverse directions. If it is desired or required to keep the load of the portal off the couplers, the load may be taken up by an upper guide system comprising a roller chain mechanism. In such an instance, two supporting arms of the structure form a rigid yoke which is suspended by both its ends from two slides which are guided in the longitudinal direction by the pivotal arms mounted for swinging about a vertical axis. Hinged to the slides is a single or double supporting arm which is pivotable about a transverse axis and detachably jointed to the respective part of the portal. This prior art system is not capable of guiding the portal in all degrees of freedom to maintain a definite gap at the parting surfaces between the portal and the car, particularly if the parting surfaces are spherical and the gap is protected by a resilient sealing cover which cannot be loaded.